Tuesday, March 10, 2015

Pencil Drawing of my Nephew as a Cowboy



This is a picture of Calvin - he is not a real Cowboy.


Layout


This is a picture of Calvin - he is not a real Cowboy.
 


Sunday, February 15, 2015

MM Diploma Project


Here is a project for the local Mason's Lodge.  Back in the old days - 100 years ago - when you achieved full membership in the fraternity as a Master Mason, you would be given a diploma that recorded all the whens, hows and whos of your progress.  The one below was created from a cell phone picture of an ancient chart that has apparently hung in the Ellensburg Lodge since 1909.


 The one below is for a Lodge in Seattle.  It is sort of a work in progress, but you might get the idea.


Thursday, January 8, 2015

Moonstone Pendant - Sterling and 14k


This is a moonstone pendant.  Just a little project with a very simple design...

The gold is on the back.  Sort of a weird place to put the gold....  It is only there to enhance the color of the moonstone

It is hard to seen in a photo, but the stone has little inclusions that come across brightly with the gold behind.
closer up maybe:

This one was donated to and auctioned off at the Annual Gallery One Paint Ellensburg event.

Sunday, December 21, 2014

Sterling and fire agate ring


Sterling and Fire Agate Ring

It is a really good stone, it is hard to get photos that show the colors as they seem to move around in the light.


Dragon Bicycle Bell


This is a bicycle bell made in the fall of 2014.  
 I fabricated all of the pieces except for some bolts
I re-did the enamel and patina for the art show this spring.

I also changed the striker mechanism and gave it an earring.   Way more better.


 Older pictures and construction pictures


Ruby and Monica Rings

These are rings for my nieces.  Beryl on the left and Welo Opal on the right.

They seem to enjoy them!


Wednesday, November 19, 2014

Gold and Oxidized Sterling Ring - recycled




This is a 14k gold and Sterling ring I made for a friend.  
It is re-purposed from an older ring he no longer wore.

 
The blackish, purplish, bluish part is sterling with a liver of sulfur patina (oxidation).
It is hard to get a photo that shows the color-play

polished silver inside....
Here are some pictures of the construction:


it started as the ring on the right...

Monday, November 10, 2014

Ellensburg 39 jewel - sterling and gold

This was my first attempt at a Masonic Jewel.  It is a Past Masters Jewel for Ellensburg #39, to be given to Ron Graham the Master in 2014.




Shiny objects are hard to photograph.



Work in progress..... Construction pictures are below.


Friday, October 10, 2014

gold ring - modern take on a diamond ring

This is a ring I recently made for a friend.  It is 18k


The stone is off-set, on purpose......
Most rings are perfectly symmetrical.  Nature seems to prefer symmetry and to design objects that look good but are asymmetrical is really difficult.  


The other thing that always bothers me is that rings are nearly always made to be round in the inside.  Look at your finger.  Are you looking?  Is it round where a ring would go?  How is it supposed to fit?  Does it spin around when it shouldn't?

View from the bottom




Here it is on my finger:

Monday, October 6, 2014

Oxidized Sterling and Gold ring - Fall 2014



Here is a ring that I made for my wife, to sort of get back into the swing-of-things.


It is a simple sterling band with 14k gold and it has been oxidized using liver of sulfur.

 Some pictures of the construction:  Basically the gold was sweat soldered to sheet sterling, then rolled flat to 'smush' it together.  Smush is a technical term.

 This is what it looked like before the patina.


 The mixture of metals in the area where the solder alloyed with the sterling and gold creates some interesting differences in the patina.

Pretty fun.  I think it took about 4 hours, and I found all of my tools again.....